Sunflowers for Sakura
by arieltown
Summary: What if, on that day when Naruto and Sasuke use the chidori and Rasengan against each other on top of the hospital, they really did end up hitting Sakura? Left scarred and burned,she leaves to get stronger, while Naruto and Sasuke live thinking she's dead
1. Prologue

What if Sasuke and Naruto had hit Sakura that day on top of the hospital and Kakashi had been too late to sop them? Only the prologue takes place during the first part. The real story takes place during Shippuden.

I listened to Missing, My Heart is Broken, and Bleed by Evanescence while writing the prologue.

Disclaimer; I don't own anything.

She watched from the door to the roof of the hospital as Naruto and Sasuke got geared up for another fight. Naruto was saying something about Sasuke needing to wear his forehead protector and Sasuke countered that he didn't need one. Their faces became angrier and angrier with ever new word uttered and they appeared less and less like the boys she knew. They looked demented, and dark. Shadows masked their boyishly handsome faces in unappealing ways. The duo looked more like small demons than the teammates she'd grown to love and care for. She'd put her life on the line for these boys once before, and even though they'd done the same countless times more often than she, Sakura would do anything to save them, even if it was from each other and at the risk of her own life.

"Chidori!"

"Rasengan!"

Both pumped chakra into their one hand. The situation had just gone from bad to worse in no time. They ran, full speed toward each other, ready to kill. Both had red eyes. Blood red eyes, set to kill.

Sakura couldn't let them do that. She had a split second to make a decision. Would she really do-before she could second guess herself, she was already running.

"Stop!" she yelled.

She knew both would regret their choice, but she was more sure that Naruto would die if he really did kill Sasuke. They wouldn't miss her. She was holding them back, she knew it, they knew it, and everyone else did too. If she wasn't on their team anymore, they could be stronger together. They would be better off without her. She had always been the weakest link. It was time to say goodbye. They'd thank her for this, eventually. They would get a new teammate, a strong one they could grow with, and then they would be fine. They'd be the best team ever made. Naruto could be Hokage, Sasuke could marry a girl and rebuild his clan, kill his brother. In time, they'd all forget about her.

"I can't stop it!" Both Naruto and Sasuke thought at the same time in a panic.

When she reached them, she could see that both of their eyes had converted back. Naruto's were clear blue, like the morning sky, except they were very scared, and on the verge of tears. His tan skin, so covered in bruises, were the traits that made him Naruto. That and his whiskers of course. He was her day. When she looked at him she saw the morning. She looked at Sasuke, with skin pale as the moon and eyes as dark a midnight as the sky. He was her night. His dark eyes were shining. He was scared too. He was never scared before. Sakura felt good to know that he was liked her enough to be scared for her. What he and Naruto were going to do to her. She forgave them. She was right in between them now. She tried, in vain; to redirect their hits, to try and make it so they wouldn't hit her, but it didn't help, she ended up just holding on to their wrists. She had barely any time left, so with her last few seconds, she smiled at them and said, "I forgive you both."

Then spots of pain erupted on her body and there was nothing.

Kakashi was only a second too late. It was something he would regret for the rest of his life. He arrived soon enough to move their attacks only minimally, so that Sasuke, instead of blowing her face off, only burned the left side. The damage wasn't as bad as it would've been, but the left side of her face was badly burned. Naruto's hit was definitely more devastating. The Rasengan just barely missed her, but the heat of it still got to her. It didn't completely obliterate her midsection, but burned her right leg from toe to naval.

Kakashi didn't waste any time consoling the boys. He turned and threw Sakura up over his shoulder (He can't hold her bridal style because it would hurt her leg) and fled to the door Sakura had been standing at. He kicked it down and flew down the steps.

"No…"Naruto gasped, tears rushing down his face like a waterfall as he crumpled to the ground. He'd just killed Sakura. She couldn't survive something like that, especially being hit twice at the same time. No more smiles and playing with Sakura. No more sea green eyes and exotic pink hair. The first girl he'd ever cared about, taken away, and by his own hand! He couldn't control himself. He really was an evil monster. He'd killed his parents and now he'd killed Sakura too. He'd spent his entire life trying to get people to see he wasn't the monster that had killed the villagers, but he really wasn't any better than the Nine Tailed Fox

"I didn't mean it!" Sasuke shouted at the top of his lungs. She was no longer just a fan girl. She had grown to be his friend; a part of his team that had protected him through many things, and cared for him no matter how many times he called her weak and useless. She'd put their lives before hers. A fangirl would never do such a thing. Doing this meant she wasn't obsessed with him, but actually cared for him. He immediately regretted that he hadn't been kinder to her. In the end, he'd repaid her kindness with death. He'd been too weak to stop his own attack. Too weak to do anything but let it happen

Both eyed their wrists where Sakura's nails had dug in. There was blood on the floor, a lot, and more dripped in spots on the way to the door and down the steps.

"Are you going to make yourselves useful, or sit there and pity yourselves?" Kakashi asked from the door.

Naruto and Sasuke looked up.

"Sakura…?"

"In surgery. She's not dead. She's too strong for that, but she needs a reason to pull through, otherwise, she'll die. Now, go round up the other teams and send messages to everyone she's known, and get them here. She's gonna need a lot of support."

In a matter of two hours everyone was there. Hinata, Shino, and Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji, Neji, Lee, and Tenten, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro. They all sat in the waiting room. Ino couldn't hold herself together and was in the bathroom crying. As soon as she'd sound out Sasuke and Naruto had done it, she'd attacked them full force. She kicked at Sasuke and punched at Naruto. Shikamaru and Choji had to pull Ino off, and even then Asuma had to help them. Her last words before she'd left were that she'd never forgive them for what they'd done. Hinata looked as detached as Neji usually did. She sat with her hands folded, back straight, and her head up for once. She looked deadly serious as if she didn't have enough time to be a coward and blush when someone was in the very next room; someone she knew well was dying, and she also was one of the few to realize that Sakura's parents where nowhere to be seen. Lee paced back and forth, unable to keep his body from moving. He had to do something; otherwise, he'd be in the same state as everyone else.

They waited in the room for three hours before anyone came to tell them anything, and everyone's attention lifted from their own musings when Kakashi stepped into the room everyone occupied. He looked tired, with dark circles around his eyes, akin to what Sasuke and Naruto and Sasuke had on their faces, except for different reasons. Kakashi's eyes were bloodshot, and his hair was messier than usual, but he looked relieved.

"She's alive."

The tension in the room dropped like a piano. Lee stopped walking, everyone sighed in relief. Naruto looked up, his tears having dried an hour ago and looked at Kakashi with such hope that he almost felt bad for the kid.

"Can I go-"

"She doesn't want to be seen." Kakashi interrupted the boy quickly. He kept his eyes trained on everybody, making sure nobody would move and try and get past him. She'd been frantic at the mention of anyone coming to see her. She'd gone hysterical the moment he'd walked into her room. He didn't think it would be best for anyone else to go in. Even now the only person allowed in Sakura's room was Tsunade, and that was only because she refused to leave no matter how much Sakura didn't want anyone near her.

Instead of waking up in a hospital bed, she woke up in a bathtub without clothes on. She was hooked up to monitors with her arm hanging out of the tub.

Apparently, one of the nurses was jealous because she believed Sasuke and Sakura were an item, and so she took a hand mirror and showed Sakura what she looked like after the burns. It had been a stretch for her to cut off her long hair that she loved so much, but to lose the other thing she valued, her looks; she wasn't sure who she was anymore. Some of her hair had caught on fire, and they had to cut her hair off even more. It was a short pixie cut, like What Halle Berry had in 007 _Die Another Day._ The back and sides were nearly shaved off, with the hair on top longer than the rest, but still only an inch or two long. But her hair wasn't the worst part.

It was her face.

The whole left side, save for her eye, was burned. Not black, but pink, as if it were still bleeding and on fire. It wasn't a blushing pink, but the kind of pink you see when you scrape yourself and you see the pink wetness underneath all the skin you took off. The more severe parts where red and blistering. Tsunade-shishou told her that it would scab up, but once the scabs peeled off, that side would never look the same. It wouldn't be smooth and a creamy white, but pink and rough feeling, like carpet. Her leg, by far, was the worst of all her injuries. It spread around more of her body and hurt more than anything she'd ever known. Her face sustained second degree burns. Her leg, however, had first degree burns. Some of the skin on her leg was more russet colored than her natural cream color, as if she'd gotten sunburn.

Sakura was no longer the beautiful girl with long pink hair, flawless white skin, and green eyes. She was…changed now. She was tougher, she felt. She'd done what she felt needed to be done for the welfare of her team. If they'd used their attacks on each other, both would've surely died. Sakura felt very accomplished that not only had both of her teammates survived, but she was strong enough to survive both the Chidori and the Rasengan, original techniques. It was a step in the right direction to becoming stronger. But what else could she do?

She was too attached to Sasuke that was for sure. He was strong, and he didn't care for anybody. Maybe she should be like that too, and then she could get stronger. She could experience things and gain skill then she could come back and join the team. They would be proud of her. She could train harder and work on making techniques just like they did. An original technique that nobody else knew about.

No matter how weak they all believed she was, nobody could deny her intelligence. She had too many distractions here, mainly Sasuke, and she couldn't learn anything if he was always there on her team to learn with her. She'd just end up embarrassing herself, or trying to show off in front of him and then ending up looking like even more of a fool in his eyes.

She had to leave.


	2. Homecoming

**I'm going to change something else I think. I'm going to change that they ever killed Zabuza and Haku on that one mission, and make Haku a girl. Yeah. You'll understand later. And some of the dates for things might be wrong, like I think Naruto began working on his wind element after Sasuke had already left, so since I wrote that Sakura left instead of Sasuke, she wouldn't have seen that. Yeah I'm changing things around a lot. So if you see inconsistencies like that, I'ts there on purpose, I do realize that things are not in the order they should be. **

**Also thank you to the reviewer that realized that third degree burns are the worst. I was thinking second and put first. Sasuke's was supposed to be the less severe but I put it the other way around, or something. I forget. Anyway, its fixed and thank you for catching that though. Also I will be changing my pin name soon so if you see this story by a different author, it's still me, just a new name**

**While writing this I listened to My Heart is Broken and Missing by Evanescence**

I can't go on living this way,

But I can't go back the way I came.

- My Heart is Broken, Evanescence

Even though I'm the sacrifice,

You won't try for me, not now.

Though I'd die to know you loved me,

I'm all alone.

Isn't something missing?

Isn't someone missing me?

-Missing by Evanescence

**Disclaimer- I think I forgot to do this last time but I own nothing.**

It had suddenly seemed so clear to her. She had to get herself out of love and warmth because those things weren't going to help her; they were the things that made her weak in the first place. Sakura needed cold hard teaching. Not how she was being taught here. She wasn't pushed hard enough. If she failed a task here, it was a pat on the back and a failed mission on my record. She needed her choices to be life or death, something more challenging, with a more severe consequence; otherwise, why push herself so hard in the first place? She already knew things would be fine once everything was over.

So that's what she did. Sakura knew where the gauze was kept, and bandaged herself up, careful to wrap her face and leg loosely so they could get air, otherwise they would take longer to scab up and heal. She took nothing other than herself and her knowledge and was ready to go.

Well, she did put on some clothes of course. But it wasn't the usual red dress and shorts since they were probably burned and discarded. She took the black shorts that were waiting by the sink for when they let her out of the tub and the white skirt. There were socks and sandals with the shoes. I took them. I waited until I was by the window to start taking the IV and stuff out. As soon as she got the window open, footsteps pounded down the hallway, running full speed toward Sakura. Ninja hearing. They probably heard the window open. Without contemplating the pain of doing so, she ripped the IV out and jumped up on the windows ledge. Just before she jumped over, she looked over her shoulder to see both of her teammates and her sensei, all staring at her. She looked at three sets of eyes, and saw all three sets staring back.

There was a moment's pause, where no one moved, breathed, or blinked. They all just stared.

"Sakura?"

As soon as the word was out of Naruto's mouth, Kakashi was in motion, ready to pull the girl from the ledge, but she just leaned back, freefalling into the air. All three watched as she fell from the window, all three had hands out to grab her as she fell, but all three were too late. She twisted at the last second, landed solidly on her feet, and then ran straight out of the gates.

Out of Konoha.

Out of their lives.

They didn't see Sakura for five more years.

**5 years Later**

Out of all the elements she could've had, she had an affinity for water. She knew Sasuke had an affinity for fire. She knew Naruto had an affinity for wind. She liked water, though she wasn't around it much. Sakura wandered how they looked now, what things were like five whole years later. They had probably grown a lot, gotten taller, thicker, stronger.

She looked different. She hadn't gotten much taller, but her arms were toned, her stomach too, although not washboard abs, she didn't want the female body builder physique. Her hair had grown much longer. She stopped cutting it since the ice was so cold. Her hair helped serve as warmth. She just left it to hang around her body, not tying it up or anything. It was long now, hanging past her breasts, just a few inches shy of her waist, to her bellybutton, which was pierced for no other reason than because she was bored.

She liked to think that Naruto looked exactly the same, just as jovial and boisterous as she remembered. Probably taller, more muscular now that he'd hit puberty and developed. And she hoped that he finally started paying attention to Hinata. They would be so cute together. And she hoped the same had happened to Sasuke-

"Ow!" she glared at her instructor and her instructor's shishou, who smirked at her, his big sword on his back. You couldn't see him smirk, because his nose down to his neck was covered with bandages that he rarely took off, reminding her of Kakashi sensei, but you saw his eyes crinkle up in the corner, and the impression of his lips move under the mask.

"Stop thinking about them." Her new shishou, Haku demanded.

"Hai." She nodded without an argument, glare, or smart remark. Just a yes. That's how she lived now, doing as she was told and not asking questions. This is what had kept her alive and made her strong. Her training had been grueling, given to her by Haku herself. At first all she did was run. She worked on her stamina for an entire year. She got faster and faster to the point where running from point A to point B was like disappearing in one spot and appearing in another. She was fast, that was for damn sure.

She had found the two after a month of walking around. She went from town to town as a vagrant wanderer, staying in one place for only a minimal amount of time, and never speaking to anyone. She trained, slept in the trees, and then ate what she could find. By the time she was found, she was nothing but bones, and barely any skin. Her burns were cracking, the scabs opening because she had no lotion to moisturize them with. Her face was beginning to peel and crack too. She was just piling snow on it, to stop the throbbing. Sakura was grateful for the winter, otherwise her burns would have been a lot worse off. The heat would bring bacteria, and bugs, and that meant infection and amputation, and she couldn't get rid of her head.

When they found her she was alive, but pale, on both sides of her face. Zabuza was the first to stop, having a flashback of how he had found Haku, dying in the snow, nearly covered completely, and hanging on the last thread of life that the Fates were ready to cut.

Then he saw the pink hair. He remembered the useless pink haired girl that basically did nothing while her teammates got their asses kicked. Had they cast her off for being weak? That was a thought. The others had been strong, it was a wonder how Zabuza and Haku managed to escape. Maybe they should help her out? Just to rub it in their faces. Zabuza sure wanted a rematch with the bastards. Maybe if he took this girl and turned her into a fighting machine, he could use her against her team, and then the tables would be turned against them. He noticed the bandages on her body had blood seeping through them. The wheels in his mind started turning. Maybe they really did cast her off. Did they try and kill her? He was definitely going to keep this one.

He ordered Haku to be in charge of her and her training, and then they were on their way.

Once she healed, they worked on her and her element. She had to try so very hard to summon the water. She remembered watching in the woods as Naruto worked for days to conjure up some wind, and hers was not the easier feat. She hadn't understood how to make water appear out of thin air. Naruto at least had air to work with.

Haku had explained to her that there was water everywhere, in everything, like her surroundings, all she had to do was draw it to her. At first she didn't understand. Draw how, like inhaling? Or was she supposed to visualize it coming to her and it would?

It was a lesson she would never get out of her memory.

"_Hold this." Haku gave her a snowball from the ground, pushed it together so it was like ice, and then handed it to her. _

_It had been cold in her hand, like a burning cold. The longer she held it, the more it hurt. But she didn't cry, or even show any inclination that she was going to. She just suffered silently._

"_Melt it. Don't- "Haku commanded abruptly when Sakura went to rub it until it melted," touch it, hold it in one hand, and melt it with your chakra."_

"_But how do I melt it if I'm a water element user? Heat is for fire element users."_

"_What is snow made of?" Haku questioned, walking around Sakura like a slave owner looking for a strong, sturdy slave._

"_Water."_

"_And your confused how? You have water to work with. Melt it."_

_Zabuza had sat with his back against a nearby tree with his hands behind his head languidly, watching with glee as his subordinate went into teacher mode. He wore baggy striped pants and a sword sheath around his back, with no shirt, as if he were immune to the cold weather. He was intimidating when he wanted to be, but now he reminded her of a lazy tiger._

_Sakura had to think very hard. They didn't teach these things in the books she'd read, and they didn't teach her these things in school. Things like these had to be self-taught, or you better have a damn good instructor. _

_Maybe if she just pushed the chakra into her hand, and concentrated it there, it would be a start. She did that, using her chakra control, and concentrated it into one spot, and then she pushed it into her fingertips and palm, right onto the surface. Once she got that far, she had no idea what to do. She thought of the warm types of water there were. Hot springs, that's one. They are naturally heated, and some geysers too. But hot springs are geothermally heated groundwater from earth's crust. The heat comes from the earth's mantle, and the last time Sakura checked, she wasn't a part of the layers of the earth._

_Natural heat. She had that, maybe not in the same way the earth did, but she was naturally warm right? She focused on heating the chakra, drawing from her core and then using it. There was a sizzling sound and then she felt the snowball begin to melt in her hand, but very slowly. She put more chakra in her hand, and it began to steam up and evaporate._

_Then it was gone._

"_I said melt it, not disintegrate it." Haku said blandly, but there was approval in her eyes. She was proud._

For the longest time, a whole year, she practiced melting the snow. She practiced every day, all day, until she had no chakra left and was exhausted. But her hard work eventually paid off. She got to the point where she could melt the snow within a hundred meters of where she was standing.

For the other two years they worked on a second element. Even though everyone is only supposed to have one, some people have two, but it takes a lot of work, or just a bloodline to do it. Since Sakura didn't have a bloodline, as far as she knew, she had to work hard.

And she used the entire two years to master the wind element. She still isn't one hundred percent sure exactly how she did it, but she did. Now she could handle, water and wind separately, or combine them to make ice. Once she got to that stage, she could use all types of jutsus she didn't have before, like Haku's Ice Release, and Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals. She'd even made originals, and was able to conjure the ice up at will.

Now, she felt useful.

Her entire day was going great, and then Zabuza decided to drop a bomb.

"I'm calling a rematch against your old team."

**Konoha**

In the five years that Sakura had been gone, things in Konoha were never the same. Team Kakashi had less fun, and they began to take things more seriously.

Two years after Sakura ran away, and became a missing nin, Naruto left to train with one of the Sannin Jiraiya. He called him Pervy Sage. Sasuke had split his time between Anko and Kakashi. Anko taught him how to control himself and the Cursed Seal mark he'd gotten from Orochimaru. She helped him with his anger issues too, and to deal with his past. Kakashi taught him how to control his Sharingan and how to achieve the highest point in his kekkei genkai, without having to kill his best friend.

Out of his two teachers, he liked working with Kakashi way better. Anko was crazy and hyperactive. She reminded him of Naruto, except she was older, female, and a hundred times worse. In order to have him summon an animal, she summoned her snakes and had him try and make them like, or better yet, respect, him. Needless to say, that took a very long time. In the end, he mastered the Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, Binding Snake Glare Spell, and with the Summoning Technique, he was able to summon Snakes.

With Kakashi, he learned Blaze Release, Body Flame Technique, Chidori Current, Chidori Senbon, Chidori Sharp Spear, and around six different Fire Release Justsus.

Needless to say he felt like one accomplished motherfucker.

The day Naruto got back, they got a new teammate.

Naruto had grown. He'd gotten taller, very tall really. He was the same height as Sasuke, six foot four, but his hair had gotten lighter. It was less yellow, more blonde. Paler. His eyes were the same big blue pools they always were. Still innocent, but less rash and more careful, like he was going to think before he acted for once. Both boys no longer had the baby fat they'd had when they were twelve.

Their new teammates name was Sai. No last name. Just Sai.

He looked a lot like Sasuke, but there was no other similarities. He had pale skin, black eyes and hair, but he had less color than Sasuke had. He wore a belly shirt, something Sasuke would never even consider adding to his wardrobe, and always sketched. But they soon found out that he was a ROOT member, assigned to team Kakashi to find Sakura and kill her, since she was a missing nin. They put a stop to that, and in the end, Sai became a friend to them, even if he was annoying. He took it upon himself to help them find Sakura, dead or alive.

From his very first day, he'd called Sasuke Emo, and Naruto was Dickless.

"So what did Sakura look like?"

They were sparring; just Naruto and Sai, but the one question made Kakashi and Sasuke stop what they were doing. Kakashi stopped reading his hentai book, and Sasuke stopped in the middle of blowing fire at targets. Sai wasn't one to take back what he says, so if he didn't get an answer, he would just analyze their reactions and read one of his books about the emotions of humans, and come up with his own far-fetched idea about why they won't answer him.

Naruto had a picture of Sakura in his pocket, so he took it out and showed Sai.

Personally, Naruto thought that she was one of the most beautiful girls on the planet. In his mind, he imagined that angels looked like she did all pale skin and bright eyed. Her laugh was contagious, and when she was angry, she looked like an avenging angel. He wandered what she looked like now. The last he'd seen of her, she had bandages covering most of her once beautiful face. His biggest regret was taking away the one thing he liked most about her. He realized now that what he'd had was just a crush on her because she was beautiful. He knew now that he had liked her in no way other than as a friend.

He still thought she would be beautiful, even with how Sasuke and he had burned her. He knew she had gotten lucky and had both of her eyes, but that was it. Her new haircut had been different, but it highlighted her sharp cheeks, bringing out her beauty even mnore, and he wandered how she looked now. Naruto imagined that she would be taller, and even more beauti-

"She's ugly." Sai commented.

"How can you say that?" Naruto shouted in outrage. How dare he say something like that about Sakura-chan?

"Well, it's my opinion. I think Emo-boy is emo, I don't believe you have a penis, and I think she's ugly. I'm Sai, and this is what I've been thinking." He said matter-of-factly, ignoring Naruto's angry glare. If he was a fire element user, he would've been able to shoot flames at him with his glare.

Sasuke stayed silent. After what he had done to her face, Sai would think even less about her looks after that picture was taken. He didn't care what Sai thought. It had been years since they'd heard from Sakura, anything at all. They hadn't heard her girly giggle, her outraged yell, or her weird one-sided conversations in years.

Kakashi's eyebrow twitched, but other than that, he, too, stayed silent.

"She wasn't very strong was she?"

Naruto stayed quiet because, honestly, she hadn't been.

Most of Konoha assumed she'd died, so nobody bothered looking for her. She was only twelve, and although she was trained as a ninja, she was only a chunin, and she should be able to survive, but alone, with no one to save her when she got into trouble, or someone tried to mug her? How was she supposed to get food? Nobody believed that she lived after she left. Rumors spread around the Hidden Leaf Village that after the nurse had shown Sakura what she looked like, she'd gotten so angry and mad that she was no longer beautiful that she left to go kill herself. Even though it was a rumor, it just added to Naruto and Sasuke's guilt. The Konoha eleven knew Sakura would never do that, she wasn't that vain, but they too, weren't one hundred percent sure she was still alive.

Only Naruto and Ino stood strong, refusing to believe that she was dead.

A year after Sakura had left, almost everyone lost hope that she would ever come back.

A week after Naruto came back to town, Sasuke and Naruto got into it again. Since Sakura wasn't there to defend Sasuke when Naruto got on his case, he actually had to argue back for once.

He remembered the conversation very clearly

"_Sakura was useless. We're better off with this new teammate." It was the harsh truth that Sasuke had to say to Naruto the day Tsunade came to introduce them to their new teammate. It hadn't hurt him to say it. He didn't like Sakura. Of course he felt bad for what he had done, but that didn't mean his feelings toward her had to change at al. She would always be that annoying loudmouthed girl that was on his team. Those were the only memories he had of her. _

"_Don't you say that about Sakura, Teme!" Naruto, within seconds, was in Sasuke's face._

"_Why not, it's the truth?" Sasuke shrugged. It was what it was._

_Naruto became as red as a tomato with anger. He was boiling inside; so much that Sasuke expected steam to come out of his ears. The two were exact opposites. Naruto's chest was heaving harshly with panting. Angry breaths, while Sasuke just breathed normally, arms folded, very nonchalant. _

"_She wasn't like us Naruto." Sasuke said calmly, "She had no reason to fight like we do. We have reasons for getting stronger, she does not. She never suffered any hardship in her life. She didn't see her parents die. She still has parents. She wasn't shunned by the village, like you were. All of a sudden he gets burned and she no longer has a reason to live? What a weakling. We aren't weak, we're better than that, and we deserve better on our team." _

_There was a long silence, where everyone said nothing. It wasn't awkward, but full of tension._

"_What makes you think Sakura's life was that easy? Have you ever seen Sakura's parents?" Kakashi didn't sound angry. He spoke with the same lazy drawl he always had, except his eyes were a bit sharper than usual._

_Sasuke hadn't known what to say. Her parents never were around, now that he thought about it. They hadn't been around the day Sakura had been burned. He'd never seen many parents of the other chunin, but he had at least seen them once, even if it was when they needed extra help. The clan leaders had been present for meetings with the Hokage sometimes. But it never seemed weird that he hadn't seen Sakura's parents before._

"_What do you mean?" Naruto asked, but he wasn't the only one wandering, for once._

"_Well, Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji. What do they have in common?"_

"_Uhhh, they're all on Asuma's team?" Naruto scratched his head in confusion, his anger momentarily forgotten._

"_They are all from a clan." Sasuke said lowly, but both heard._

_Kakashi began to speak lower, so both boys moved over to where he was sitting underneath the shade of a tree, and Naruto down. Sasuke chose to stand._

"_Right. And they have all parents. Kiba, Hinata, and Shino, what do they have in common?"_

"_They're all from a clan too!" Naruto said excitedly._

"_And they all have one parent." Kakashi added. "Lee, Tenten, and Neji?"_

"_Well Neji doesn't have parents. I don't know about Tenten and Bushy Brows though."_

"_None of them do. See, what happened was, when they grouped the team together, they did it by similarities. Things that the team members could bond over. Clan kids sometimes relate more to kids from other clans. Some kids bond better with kids that grew up like they did. What do you think this team has in common?"_

"_We all don't have parents?"_

"_Exactly. Sakura knew a lot more about being an orphan than you thought she did. And as for her drive, well, we'll never know now, will we?"_

_The only indication that Kakashi was angry was in the words uttered, not the tone in which they were said. His tone never changed from its usual languidly slow tenure. If he wasn't aiming to make Sasuke eat his words, he would've never said anything. And his blow struck true._

_Sasuke said nothing, but inside, his heart crumbled a little more._

Ever since that day, he regarded Sakura as a budding flower, something that had potential, but hadn't bloomed yet. He knew that one day, eventually, it would burst open and be a beautiful flower. A gorgeous pink one with green tips, and she would be the best smelling flower he'd ever knew.

But Sasuke would have to leave her rooted in the ground, for another man to walk by and pick.

**Sakura **

The more she walked with them, the more her heart clenched with nervousness. She was getting closer and closer to her village, where everyone knew her, and probably thought she died like a weakling. How would they react to seeing her? Would they believe it was really her?

She repressed her excitement too. They would be so proud when they saw how she turned out. Maybe they'd want her to come back to their team. She wandered what their new teammate was like. Was this person stronger than her? She felt jealous that someone got to be with her teammates and she didn't but then calmed down. She had a new team now, and she was only staying long enough for the rematch. If they won, yay, then they'd leave, she hoped.

She really hoped Zabuza didn't mean a total defeat type of rematch, because she hadn't killed anyone yet. She could never kill her old friends either, no matter what they did to her. She didn't have the evil in her to do something like that. If Zabuza wanted to kill them, he and Haku were on their own.

And she knew Haku would side with her master, no matter what Sakura did. Haku would die for that man. Sakura still hadn't figured Zabuza out one hundred percent. Sometimes he was nice and funny, a cool dude to hang around and a good teacher when she needed help, but sometimes he was ruthless and cruel. He never hit Haku, but Sakura had been the focal point of his anger on occasion, and was beaten, not to death, but enough that she remembered not to cross him again. Haku never stopped him, but she always cleaned Sakura up when everything was over. And Sakura never hated the man, because this was what she asked for. What she needed. A strong teacher that would give her, not a slap on the wrist, but a slap in the face. An actual lesson, equipped with field experience and harsh training.

She could see the gate to Konoha now. She was closer than she wanted to be. It had taken a lot of courage to get here. What if they didn't- no, she told herself. No more what ifs. She was here, and she would get through this, just like she got through everything else. They would see her, she would fight against them, they'd be amazed, and she'd disappear again.

Genma, the man that always stood at the gate, was, as usual, standing at the gate. He looked the same as when Sakura had last seen him, brown eyes, brown hair, a bandana covered his head like a forehead protector, and he had his trademark Senbon in his mouth and wore the standard jonin outfit.

Genma's eyes, usually half-lidded with boredom, widened when they took in her group strolling casually up to the gates. Sakura wandered to the back of the line, behind Zabuza, and walked as close to him as she possibly could. Haku was in the front. They figured that was the best way to walk, since Haku still looked like a child- or at least a very young adolescent, so there was a good chance that they would not attack her first. Zabuza walked a foot behind her, holding his sword and looking menacingly around. He was protective of his girl. It was obvious he hadn't noticed Sakura yet. He had noticed Zabuza.

Sakura couldn't figure out which was worse.

Sakura bumped into Zabuza's back as he halted. He spared her a short annoyed glance over the shoulder.

It was hot in Konoha. Hotter than Sakura was used to in a long time, and her hair was sticking to her body. She knew it would be warmer, so she wore only a white blouse, similar to the usual red thing she wore, but a different color. Along with it where black shorts, and fishnets over her unburned leg, bandages over the other. Half of her face was still wrapped up, and she'd left her hair down, a choice she now regretted. Her hair was curling up from the humidity, coiling around her body like pale pink snakes. The heat was both familiar and foreign at the same time. She had been so used to it before, the sweat, the heat, everything. Now she wasn't sure if she was on vacation, or coming to a spa after a long time at jail. She missed her home, but at the same time, she despised it. Even her old home was a weakness that she missed having. It was like chocolate to a dieter when she was on her period. Sakura was at a crossroads on how to feel. The only thing she was one hundred percent sure of was that she missed chocolate. So she pushed the thought to the back of her mind and lived in the moment.

Haku said nothing.

Genma said nothing.

Sakura said nothing.

"Well, can we go in or not?" Zabuza said with a raised eyebrow.

Genma stepped aside, and his companion (I can't remember his name. the spiky blue haired one that hangs with Genma), ran to go alert the Hokage.

As they entered, Sakura shifted to Zabuza's side, so Genma wouldn't see her, but it was a move made without purpose. He saw her trying to sneak away and called her name.

"Sakura?"

She froze, for just a moment, and then said," Nope, never heard of her."

Sakura kept at a brisk walk and Zabuza laughed quietly, shoulders shaking. He still didn't understand what happened to make Sakura leave her hometown, but the look Genma gave, he knew that was her, and he looked as if he'd seen a ghost. Did they seriously try to kill her? If so, then this was his kind of village. He thought Sakura was more useful than they had anticipated, but the cruelty of this place was phenomenal! He quite liked it. He saw those traits in himself. But then again, the man at the gate didn't look aggressive, as if she were a person that had raised from the dead, like a vampire, but a ghost of the past, a skeleton in the closet that he didn't want to face. He looked less like he wanted to kill her again, and more like he wanted to leap for joy and embrace her.

Maybe Konoha was just full of weirdoes.

He'd find out soon enough.

**Review please. Let me know what you think? Let me know what you think might be a good story line. This is my firs fanfic and I kinda would appreciate some help, criticism, not too harsh though, I'm softhearted. But yeah, let me know if you have any ideas, or just something good to say. I'm going to try to update once a week, but my internet is random. This was done a while ago, but I just couldn't upload it. So yeah. Review.**


	3. Speculations

**Sooo. Yeah. Last Chapter. **

**Anyway, ignore the above. I just saw Sucker Punch and I'm very confused. But, from here on out, I just need to get something off of my chest. I am a closet nympho. I love stories with graphic lemons and smut, so this story is no exception. You will read about every couple in this fanfic's sex life, and what type of kinky stuff they're into. Now, as for who those couples are, I have Ino and Shikamaru, Hinata and Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke, of course, Kakashi and Anko( I might make an exception for this one. It just might feel weird.) , Zabuza and Haku, and Neji and Tenten, AND Tsunade and Jiraiya. Some couples you may only get one lemon from. But some will have more than others. **

**But yeah that's just a warning. And review a lot. Let me know if you like it, or just say whatever you're thinking. Do some of the characters seem flat, or without personality? Do they seem as if they're drifting away from their character, or too much like another to the point where the difference is minimal? Let me know. As a writer, it is good to get feedback from the readers. It helps me write and keeps me motivated.**

**So, also, my music tastes vary, so you might get some rock, some rap, and some pop, but more mainstream stuff, but if you have recommendation's that you think will suffice, you are more than welcome to review and let me know. As you can tell, I really like Evanescence, but I listen to Lil Wayne, Three Days Grace, Drake, Slipknot, Kamalot, and more shit I just can't think of. **

**Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto in manga or anime, or in anyway other than fan fiction.**

Do you think about me now and then?

Do you think about me now and then?

'Cause I'm coming home again

Homecoming-Kanye West

You blame me but,

It's not fair when you say that I didn't try,

I just don't wanna hear it anymore.

I swear I never meant to let it die,

I just don't care about you anymore.

Let It Die- Three Days Grace

Tsunade was angry. Now, some might say that this was nothing unusual, every time she saw Team Kakashi she was angry, whether it was Naruto grating her nerves with his usual nagging and "I wanna be Hokage" shit, Sai calling her a hag as if that were her name, and Sasuke being Sasuke, saying 'Hn' as if it were a fucking word. She got even angrier when she thought about it. They all got on her last nerve. But who got on her nerves the most?

Jiraiya.

That womanizing, lecherous, asshole. With his long spiky white hair and, tallness that dwarfed trees, and those red lines down his face. Than annoying smirk he kept on his mouth. Jesus, everything about the man pissed her off.

He was just so….Jiraiya like. It pissed her off

She felt like she needed another gallon of sake to survive the day, and to top it off, was another annoyance.

Sakura showed her skinny narrow ass back in Konoha, along with two other Ninja's that were, you know, bad.

Tsunade was a little hurt, too. The moment she found out Sakura was hurt, she snapped to attention, and was ready to go in and do whatever she could, because she cared for Sakura. She was ready to take the girl that reminded her so much of herself, and take her under her wing, teach her everything she knew. But then she decides to leave. Before Tsunade could teach her, minimize her burn scars, or do anything at all, she decided to leave. Her reasons for doing so were still unclear, but that was beside the point. She left, point blank.

Tsunade thought the girl was dead.

She grieved for the girl in private, crying when she actually had a moment to herself. She missed the little pink haired genius. She'd thought about how she could make the girl feel better, and her heart was torn apart. There were many parts to heart, one for each person that she knew, loved, and had lost.

But it turned out the bitch was in perfect health, strong, and more confident in herself than before. Sakura looked secure, not self-conscious, like she did when she was a little girl, and her biggest worry was what Sasuke was thinking about her. No, she was changed, no doubt about it. She was confident without being cocky, and Tsunade didn't like it one bit. She missed smiling Sakura, this one was just, quiet, and Tsunade was not a quiet person. Before, Tsunade saw herself in everything Sakura did, the way she yelled at Naruto, the way she was hot tempered and sometimes very naïve. Even when she got very serious, they had moments where they were the most compassionate people, where they would give someone the clothes off of their own back as long as it helped someone. Sakura had great chakra control, just like Tsunade. They had so much in common, and now it was like looking at a stranger.

New Sakura was nothing like Tsunade. This Sakura was silent, and eerily observant. It was like watching Sasuke when he was younger, the way he could stare at his teachers and just scare them because his stare was too intense for a child's his age. It was like being killed by a Telletubby. Bizarre. Tsunade felt as if she were in an alternate universe, because everything was so different about the girl that she used to know as well as she knew herself.

Sakura was so straight-faced. How can someone with pink hair be so serious looking, honestly? And Sakura dressed so much more conservatively. Almost her entire body was covered with something. One leg and one arm were covered with fishnets, her uncovered arm and leg were covered with bandages, and half her face was covered with bandages, still. Her hair was long, and left wild, not exactly ugly, but just unkempt, as if she didn't bother with looks anymore, but it worked for her. Very few things had changed with Sakura visually. Her hair was longer, and curly, instead of straightened, like how she kept it before. She had barely grown height-wise, still five foot, which made her a dwarf in ninja terms, but she adopted Tsunade's assets, the upper ones. The girl was stacked but no so much that they looked unnatural. Her breasts fit her body, and despite Tsunade's anger, she was proud that her would- be apprentice had taken after her, even a little bit. They weren't Tsunade's double D's but a comfortable C cup, hidden behind the baggy thing she was wearing. Sakura's style was another thing that had changed. She'd gone from cute china doll to Old Bag Lady.

But Sakura's eyes were the same. They looked just as lively as they did when Sakura was nothing but a girl, and Tsunade knew there was still hope.

But first, she had to alert everyone.

Sakura was back in town.

Sakura POV

The moment Sakura had walked into the Hokage's office; she had been punched in the face.

What a welcome home, she thought bitterly. Even though she wouldn't say it out loud, she blamed Zabuza for all of her inner turmoil. She didn't like the fact that she was seeing everything again. She'd always wondered what her hometown looked like now, but that hadn't meant she was just going to sashay right into Konoha, she didn't belong there anymore. She was an outlaw.

But along with blaming Zabuza, another thing she kept inside was the fact that it felt genuinely good to see some people again. Tsunade looked exactly the same, just as ageless and angry as always. Tsunade was still blonde, with not a hint of gray, still luscious and shiny, her face was still without wrinkles, and her boobs were just as big and perky as Sakura remembered. Sakura hadn't really paid much attention to Tsunade in that way, but she had envisioned Tsunade as a mother figure, and Sakura associated breasts with mothers. Young mothers had big perky ones; grandmothers had big saggy ones, not in an insulting way, that's just how it was. What she meant was that Tsunade still had the body of a young woman, and not the grandmotherly ones, even though she was old enough to be a grandmother.

She hadn't passed any of her classmates on her way and she wouldn't admit, even to herself, that she was looking forward to seeing them, even if it was only a glimpse. She knew that they had grown up just like she had, but did they look the same, or had they changed a lot?

Anyway, after Sakura recovered from the blow she'd seen coming, and let land, Zabuza raised an eyebrow. Everything was so cut throat. He loved it. If every day was going to be like this, they might stay there. He quite liked the excitement! It was a town he'd like to stay in for a while. Very dog eat dog.

Tsunade had them sent to a room, stating that she would deal with it later and they complied.

Zabuza had changed his ways. He thought doing things for evil was useless because having rules to work around would be more fun than taking the easier way out, so he went to the side of good, they tested his skills better, so they weren't judged because they weren't on trial. He liked the challenge that rules gave him.

Sakura, however, was in trouble. She was a missing nin, and now that she was back, she was fine. There was nothing against her, she hadn't done anything, but the Hokage wanted to keep an eye on her and Haku and Zabuza, just to make sure they weren't going to try anything.

It had been five years, so they had to know what she could do, just as a precaution.

Sasuke POV

After word got out that Sakura was back, everyone was back in Tsunade's office. They were scattered throughout the room, all in different states of distress. They wanted answers and they wanted them as soon as possible. The room was equally anxious and tense as it had been over Sakura five years ago, but this time, the mood was not as fearful, most were in fact, quite angry.

"That mother fucking bitch!" Ino was quite furious.

She still had the same light, almost platinum blonde hair down to her waist, and the bang that swooped over her forehead down to her jaw. Her eyes were blue and without pupils, almost akin to that of the Hyuga clan. She had a very pretty face, along with full cheeks that she hated because she thought they made her look fat. Her ears had many hoops in them, rewards that she and the rest of her team shared with Asuma. They went all the way from the top of her ear to the lobes. She had on her signature purple turtleneck like shirt with no sleeves that stopped at her navel. Her skirt matched her top, and she wore short fishnet shoulder pads on both knees, and the same on her elbows. She was just as outspoken as she'd always been.

Tsunade barely suppressed a smile. At least someone understood her thoughts.

"All this time Forehead was ALIVE! And not once did she bother to come back, not even leave anything to say, you know, 'hey I didn't die,' what a bitch!"

Everyone stayed quiet, but the ones closest to Sakura showed the most emotion. Kiba, Choji, Sai, and Shino stayed in the back, not knowing what to do. They didn't know Sakura that well, and showed no opinion on the matter. Neji stood farther in the back, almost blending into the shadow of the corner like a weirdo. If it wasn't for his silver eyes peering out like flashlights, and the fact that they were all ninjas and everyone could every time someone breathed, no one would've known he was even there. Hinata stood behind Naruto, peering cautiously over his shoulder as if she was trying to hide form Ino's anger, even though it wasn't directed at her. Tenten stood farther away from the Hokage, on the outskirts of the shadow Neji was in, but still relatively close. Sasuke was next to Naruto right in the front by the desk Tsunade sat by. Jiraiya had arrived the moment he'd been notified and stood, leaning against the wall beside Tsunade, who had a hand on her face. Kakashi stood in between Sasuke and Naruto. For once he was tense, and his eyes, while still lazy, were intense and focused.

"As you all know, Sakura is alive and well. I need you all," she looked at everyone individually," to keep an eye on her. We don't know what she's capable of, how strong she is, or her team. We must proceed with caution. Now, I am going to call them all in here and question them. I need you all to analyze and report. If there's something off, let me know."

They all nodded, one by one.

"If I don't fucking kill her first." Ino muttered, not even trying to hide her words.

Tsunade acted like she hadn't heard that.

"Shizune, bring them in."  
><span><strong>Sakura POV<strong>

She stood with the least emotion she could muster as Shizune brought her and her team into the room. Zabuza was behind her and Haku stood between them. She felt her heart trying to thump out of her chest, and forced it to stop. If Kiba was anywhere near, he would hear it, as would some other shinobi.

She had a moment to brace herself until she saw everyone at once. Maybe it would've been better to see each person one at a time, but seeing everyone at once, was very overwhelming. They all stared back, familiar eyes she'd looked into, laughed with, and went through hard times with, all staring back with varying amounts of anger. She was- had been-used to seeing them angry, but never had their anger been aimed at her. Well, not that much anyway.

The first person Sakura saw was Ino, just as skinny and blonde as ever, but what made Sakura look at her was the pure lividness of her stare. She looked as if she wanted to strangle Sakura alive, and then parade her dead body around Konoha like a trophy. Her usually mildly tanned face was red, her pale blue eyes narrowed, like she was calculating how to get to Sakura without being stopped by someone in the room, but Sakura knew most of them would have let Ino have at her.

Naruto had gotten so big! He was a giant compared to Sakura. He stood well over six feet tall, still tan and light brown skinned from days in the sun. His hair had grown longer, and was spiky around his face. His eyes, usually the same light blue as the sky, a shade darker than Ino's, was now dark blue, as if the day was ending and turning into night. He looked deadly serious, like how he was when he was in a fight and was making his oath. He had on a black shirt and orange pants with pockets all over them. His hands were in the top pocket and his head was bowed a little bit, his bangs covering most of his eyes, but they were too intense on her for her to believe, even for one second, that he wasn't looking at her.

It was too much, so Sakura looked at the next person, Hinata. She had kept her hair short in the back, but the side bangs went down to her collarbone, with the straight cut bangs. Her face was less chubby, and sharper, and she'd grown into herself, her upper body rivaled Tsunade's, and her hips were very round, but not fat, just curvy. Her body was still hidden behind that old hoodie she always wore, but her stomach wasn't as tight as a shinobi's should be. She refused to meet Sakura's eyes, preferring to stare at the floor.

They looked as if they were disgusted with her. Sakura drew the cold from the air, and then chilled herself with it. She was beginning to feel her emotions creeping back up; ones that would make her look weak. Her chest was burning, her throat constricting, and her body heating. She cooled herself down, and making her body temperature drop. Making herself frozen, just a little, would make it stop.

Everyone began glancing around uneasily. Trying to find out why the air had gotten so cold that they could see their breath upon exhalations. Konoha only ever got windy days, never snow, and even the wind was never this cold.

"Well, let's get to it. Why are you here?" Tsunade began the questioning, interrupting Sakura's assessment. Tsunade rubbed her arms a little.

"Well," Zabuza started, but Tsunade interrupted and said," I'm speaking to Sakura." Zabuza scowled, but said nothing.

"I am here, because Zabuza is here." She said cryptically, answering the question, but giving no more information than what was necessary.

"Is Zabuza your squad leader?"

"Yes."

"Have you been with him this whole time?"

"Yes."

"Are you in good health?"

"Yes."

"Why did you leave?" this question came from Naruto, who was staring directly at Sakura, and in Sakura's opinion, it was worse than having him not look at her at all. To see the hurt and pain in his unguarded eyes, Sakura drew more cold to herself, and saw in her peripheral vision, her hands were turning red.

"I needed to get stronger." Her answer came out sounding just as cold as the ice she drew to herself.

"You couldn't do that here?" he straightened up and stood to his full height. Sakura had to crane her head back a little bit to see his face.

"You didn't. You were away for two years, so do not patronize me." Naruto opened his mouth to say something else, but Sakura cut him off," Before I left, I was no more useless than a baby, and you all treated me like one," she looked at Naruto, Kakashi, and then Sasuke, but only for a second, she didn't want to get lost in seeing how much they'd changed," I'm smart, as you know, and it didn't take a genius to realize I was weak. But no matter what I did, I went nowhere in life, staying just as useless as I always was. It needed to stop. It took a Chidori and a Rasengan to make me do it, but then I realized, you both had original strength and jutsus, and what did I have!" Sakura hadn't realized it, but her voice had been steadily rising, and she was almost shouting," Nothing but intelligence. What the fuck was I supposed to; beat someone to death with knowledge? I was pathetic, and now I'm not."

"So you didn't leave because of what we did?" Naruto asked in a small voice.

"No," she was back to one word answers.

"That's still not a good enough reason to leave Konoha." Tsunade replied, taking control of the questioning once again.

"You all thought I was dead didn't you?" One pink eyebrow raised on her head.

"Well, yes, but-"It was Tsunade who was interrupted this time. "Then obviously I wasn't the only one who thought I wasn't strong. Everyone else thought I was weak too." She looked at each one in turn. They each couldn't meet her gaze in turn, and one by one lowered their heads in shame, except the one she didn't know, with a belly shirt on, and Sasuke, he only met her eyes," When Sasuke ran away for two years, did you all think he was dead too?"

"How did you know about that?" Tsunade demanded, slamming her fist down on the desk, and starting to rise from her chair.

"I'm a smart woman Tsunade, and I always know everything." The fact that they were angry at her for doing what she knew was best made her angry, and she spoke too much when she was angry, but she reigned it in a little bit.

"Obviously you knew _he_ was alive. He was strong. I left just like he did. If you want me to say that I'm sorry for leaving, I won't, because I'm not. Leaving was the best thing I've ever done. Now nothing can kill me." She said. All at once she ran out of steam, going back to being quiet.

"You cocky bitch!" Ino shouted, flinging Shikamaru's hand off of her and storming toward Sakura. "You never even let us know you were okay!"

Ino towered over Sakura, who was at eyelevel with Ino's nose.

Sakura just stayed quiet for a moment, and then she spoke low enough that only Ino would hear her. "As my friend, you should've known better than anyone else that I was too smart to just die in the wilderness, which meant that you not only doubted my strength but my intelligence too. A real friend would've known without a doubt that I was doing fine."

Ino deflated, looking more sad than angry, and paler than when Sakura had first walked in, slowly stepped back to where she was.

"Now," Tsunade said after a moment of awkward silence," We have to see how much you've progressed, just as a precaution. Sakura, you will fight-"

"We want to fight team Kakashi." Zabuza interceded.

"What?" Tsunade was caught off guard, and for a moment her serious, blank faced mask disappeared, replaced with wide eyes and high eyebrows.

"That's why I'm here. I've had Sakura trained just for a rematch with that one," he pointed at Kakashi, "And his team."

"What do you mean trained?" Kakashi asked, staring intently at Zabuza, as if the wrong answer to his question resulted in execution.

"Well I can't have a weak team. She's been training for years, and honestly, I wouldn't pick a fight with her. Would you like a quick demonstration?" Zabuza's eyes crinkled deviously, and Tsunade wearily nodded, knowing he had something in store, but too curious to say no. He looked too much like a young boy planning to play a trick on someone.

"Sakura."

Sasuke raised his eyebrows at the command. Only a name and she just goes into action like an obedient dog.

Zabuza couldn't control Sakura much, so when it came to jutsus, he couldn't tell her to do a specific one because they were all equally interesting to watch. He had a favorite, but that one was for battle only.

Sakura put her hands together, and took a deep breath. The temperature in the room dropped as she pulled the moisture and the air from the room. When she opened her hands, a small clear bird rested there. It moved its head around and then stood up. It jumped off of her hand and flitted about for a moment. The girls' eyes softened as they collectively 'aww'ed, and then the bird exploded. Hundreds of thin needles sprung from it and flew in every direction, but before they could hit anyone, they stopped in midair. In seconds, everyone in the room was alert, jumping away, pulling out weapons, and taking fighting stances.

"Hey, hey, hey, no need for that you wanted a demonstration." Zabuza smirked annoyingly.

The needles all pulled back together, forming a glob of water that floated in air for a moment before thinning out into a thin sheet of ice that solidified and reflected like a mirror. Sakura walked into it as everyone stopped and stared, transfixed as they watched what Sakura was doing. She disappeared into the mirror and didn't come out of the other side. Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi all recognized the mirror Sakura was inside of now. The mirror then moved and turned around. It started moving faster and faster, like the rotating teacups in the amusement park. When they could see Sakura, she was inside of the mirror, but the faster it spun, the more it looked like Sakura was standing in front of the ice mirror, and on the next rotation, she would be back inside the mirror. It was confusing and creepy at the same time. None of the Konoha ninja's moved to break the mirror in fear that Sakura might really be dead if they did, but then the mirror really did shatter, breaking into hundreds of tiny pieces onto the floor.

"Where did she go?" Naruto said loudly, grabbing Haku by her shirt collar and pulling her to his eyelevel. "Where is she!" he shouted in her face. He was angry; his face red, eyes dark, he was definitely different from the happy-go-lucky Naruto Sakura was used to.

"Stop being so rash, boy. Be patient." Haku wasn't even mad at him. She had a small smile on her beautiful face. She rarely ever got mad, even in the worst situations. Sakura knew that if Haku was ever to be defeated in battle, she would die with a smile on her face. Naruto couldn't keep his hold on her if she wasn't even hostile. Plus, she looked like a little kid, and holding her like he was made him feel like a bully.

Everyone looked at the ice on the floor. It was melted now, and it slowly merged together, creating a small ball of water that started to levitate in the air. It then reshaped itself into the bird that flew and landed right on Zabuza's shoulder. Then the bird grew, morphing from the shape of a bird into the silhouette of a girl. And before their very eyes, the girl was Sakura. She slid from Zabuza's shoulder and then stood, facing the crowd.

All eyes were confused, each and every single person, besides Haku, who stood smiling, but Sakura knew the slight tilt in her lips meant she was proud.

"That wasn't nearly as exciting as the other one," Zabuza said in disappointment, staring at her like a father might at his pregnant teenage daughter.

Sakura just stared at him with one raised eyebrow, and he stared back, confusion in the crinkle between his thicker, darker eyebrows, and then comprehension dawned in his eyes, and he smiled back at her, as if to say, 'you smart she-devil you' and then turned back to Tsunade. Some of the ninja's glanced at each other around the room, catching discrete glances in return, noting that they each had noticed that, and would report it to Tsunade later.

"Well," Tsunade said, "Genma!" she called out to the man guarding the open door, he entered and stood at rest, both legs slightly parted, his hands behind his back. The Senbon was in his mouth, as always, and he was smiling a little. Some things never change, Sakura thought.

"Escort them to the waiting room. Dismissed."

He nodded at Sakura and led them out of the door, shutting it behind them.

"Report." Tsunade commanded.

"Well that's definitely not the same Sakura." Kiba said, starting off the discussion

"Well, that bird thing was really cool, and I want chicken."

Ino rolled her eyes, leave it to Choji to go back to food. But he had a point, that bird thing was pretty cool.

Sai didn't know what to say. The ugly girl Dickless had showed him in the picture before was nothing like the girl he saw in person. She was like a ROOT official, or something. She was cold, calculating, and powerful. She was beautiful. The pink hair was odd, and you could only see half of her face, but she was like a fearie. She was small, oddly colored, strong, but also ruthless and vicious. She'd served them with her arguing, throwing hard hits at them. She was right, if she was weak, she needed to get stronger. It was the shinobi way, and they should understand. She'd thrown their thoughts of her back in their faces so much Sai had almost wanted to protect them, and the emotionlessness she displayed was a little sexy.

"I like her." Sai announced. Some in the room sweat dropped, they would never understand him.

" She communicated with Zabuza in some way." Shikamaru announced, gaining everyone's attention.

"I n-n-noticed th- that too. It was like sh-she was sp-sp-sp-speaking to him telepa-pathi-pathi-cally or s-s-s-omething." Hinata commented.

"Her chakra flow is unsteady," Neji added, stepping out from the shadowy corner and coming to stand in front of the Hokage respectfully. "I used the Byakugan and saw she has no chakra flow specifically." At the Hokage's blank stare, he elaborated," Everyone's chakra flows like veins with chakra points, but hers is nonexistent. They don't flow like veins, and there are no points. It's more like water. Her chakra is everywhere. There's still the root of her chakra in her stomach, but it's just a big ball. Everything else is just loose. Her chakra is mixed with her blood, her skin, her muscles; it's infused into her very being." Neji looked quite troubled, but Tenten knew that this was because he couldn't use his 64 Palm Technique on her. It made him a little angry that someone would be invincible to his clans best technique.

"She used two elements." Sasuke added," Water and Ice. It's a derivative of Haku's ice technique, passed down to her from her clan." He left the part out that Sakura wasn't part of a clan because he knew Naruto would ask his unspoken question.

"Well, then how can she use two? I can only use one." Naruto pouted a little bit at the end. He'd always wanted to have another one.

"Is it possible that Sakura is from a clan?" Kakashi asked, speaking for the first time since he'd entered the room.

Tsunade contemplated for a moment. Could she be? No one really knew where the Haruno girl came from. She'd just appeared one day, and all of her papers where lost during Orochimaru's attack where Sarutobi was killed. As far as Tsunade knew, Sakura just appeared out of thin air. It was a possibility that Sakura was a clan baby, but nobody ever reported missing a child, and everyone would know if there was a clan known for their pink hair. She'd been named by Sarutobi for her spring green eyes and cherry blossom colored hair. She stayed in the same orphanage as Naruto and Sasuke until they were old enough to be genin, but of course the idiots never even noticed that she was orphaned just like them. She'd had excellent chakra control, and was smart way beyond her years.

"It's possible." But there was no way find out.

**And I need a beta. I am not the best when it comes to grammar, but yeah I need that. Review if you think you can do that.**


	4. ApologyTeaser

So, first let me start by saying I am so sorry for how long it has taken me to update this. It's ridiculous how long it's been and I'm ashamed lol. I know I hate when I'm really into a story and the author never updates it out of the blue. It took me a lot longer than it should have to update. The only reason I haven't was because, at first, I had no idea where I wanted to take the story. I didn't really have much of a plot in line I just knew I had wanted to take that specific scene in the beginning where Naruto and Sasuke are using their techniques against each other and I knew I wanted Sakura to leave and become stronger. Haku and Zabuza kind of just popped up because Haku had always been one of my favorite people in the series, like top twenty anyway, and I wanted him to be an integral part of the story, and with Haku comes Zabuza. Anything past that just popped up as I was typing.

Eventually, I wanted to come back to it, but I hadn't watched anything to do with the show for months, which turned into years. I still haven't seen much of anything dealing with Naruto in years, and I wanted it to sound authentic, as if this was really a turn the story could've taken. I'm hoping that maybe I can create my own type of Naruto Universe, where many things are the same and many are different. Some changes have to be made to the first three chapters, and I will get back to them eventually and fix them up, but my first priority is to get you all a new chapter, which I'm working on now. I have about 2k words right now, but I want to get somewhere between 5-10k. I plan on making the entire story about 20-30 chapters long.

I want to thank everybody that reviewed and urged me to continue this story. I was honestly shocked at how many people favorited my story and reviewed. I didn't think it would gain as much attention as it did, so thanks to everyone. If it wasn't for you guys I probably would've taken it down.

I read in the comments that a lot of people were telling me Haku is a boy. I'm aware. When I was writing this I knew I wanted to show the sex scenes from everyone's relationship, Haku and Zabuza included. I didn't quite know what the readers would think about it. I dint want people to lose interest, but I've decided, now that I'm older, that I don't quite care if people don't like gay scenes. If you don't like it, you don't have to read it, but I think everyone that saw the episode where they died can tell that Zabuza loved Haku, and I'm going to expand on that in a more mature manner. That's something that I have to go back and change,and I will at some point, but like I said getting you guys this new chapter is more important.

To thank you all for your patience, here's a teaser of the next chapter. It's rough, I literally just typed it, but its something.

$#% ^$&^*&(^&%^$#

When it came time for the rematch, Sakura came prepared. She had been overdressed before, but now she would scale back. She kept with her theme of white and opted for a white top with no sleeves that was cropped below her sternum, barely covering the lotus and lace tattoo there. She wore white capri like pants made of a stretchy material that clung to her body like paint and flat shoes. She had exchanged the bandages on her face for a white mask.

Her scars were not as bad as they had been all those years ago. Her skin was textured and a deep russet color, but they scars were in flame like patters, curving around her face like a tribal tattoo. The same went for the burned parts of her leg. The skin that had been wind-burned and obliterated by the Rasengan was, if possible, paler than the rest of Sakura's skin.

Sakura licked her lips, clicking her double horizontal tongue piercings against her teeth. She could do this. She would show them exactly how strong she was and then she would leave. They would have closure, knowing that their poor weak Sakura was now a full blown badass, and they wouldn't worry anymore. She could go back to being a mercenary, a ninja for hire, helping people for the right price.

Both teams met in the same arena that the chuunin exams had taken place in. Every ninja in the village, the genins, chuunin, jounin, even the ANBU and academy kids were there in the stands. Nine of the Konoha Eleven, and Sai, were seated in the front row, ready to observe and intervene if necessary.

We stood in a line facing each other, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto on one side and Haku, Zabuza, and Sakura on the other. They were only a foot or so apart, and there was a breeze of hot air that did nothing to soothe Sakura's skin. She had tried to keep herself cool, but decided against it. That would take too much chakra away from the fight, and if she wanted to prove them right, she needed every ounce and gram of chakra in her body. She didn't want to beat them, she wanted to demolish them, to show them once and for all that she was capable and just as good, if not better, than all of them.

With that thought in mind, she resigned herself to sweating it out, ignoring the tickle as a droplet dropped down her stomach, back, and down her neck.

"Sakura where are you going once this fight is over?" Naruto asked. He seemed a bit more like the old Naruto. He was smiling his signature grin, his eyes heavily scrunched in the corners.

"I will stay with Haku and Zabuza." she replied, keeping the emotion out of my voice. The sight of his smile tugged on my heart strings and brought up unwanted feelings and memories. Sakura missed Naruto, but she had to get on with my life. Staring at all the ways he had changed would be a distraction, and that was a weakness. Sakura smiled on the inside.

"How about a bet?" Naruto asked cheekily, scratching the back of his head in that cute way he used to, reminding her of the boy he had once been.

"What is it?" Zabuza answered for me inquiringly.

"He was talking to Sakura," Sasuke backed his friend up, flicking a flat stare at Zabuza.

"Pretend I'm Sakura," Zabuza commanded, folding his beefy arms across his chest.

"You're not half as pretty as Sakura," Naruto replied, scoffing, and returning to his normal volume, which was a nice shout, even though there were only three feet separating them.

"You think so? Have you seen what you've done to her?" Zabuza snarled, trying to get into their heads. You could tell it was working by the way Naruto's posture drooped. Sasuke's stare just got much sharper. He looked less aloof and more present in an instance.

"No we haven't. Care to show us?" he challenged.

I maintained a blank face. I had nothing to hide. I wore the bandages more out of habit than personal fear. I didn't care how people felt about my burned face. Ninjas got hurt all the time, it was an occupational hazard. It was always better to be alive and scarred than dead.

Zabuza slid his large fingers underneath one of the loops of the bandages and tore it, unravelling the covering slowly, coil by coil. People in the stands were standing on their feet and crowding the edge of the balcony overlooking the arena, chomping at the bit to see what was under the bandages. What was revealed was a deep red flame shaped scar, as if the flames themselves had left impressions of themselves on her skin. They coiled and curved, arcing in different directions, some patches were unharmed, like tiger stripes.

Naruto was considerably paler, his eyes returning to that dark contemplative Naruto that had met Sakura yesterday.

"Will you take the bet Sakura?" he asked pitifully, his head hung low as if he couldn't look at her. Sakura felt a moment of shame, then anger. She was beautiful. These scars marked her as a survivor. She had felt such pain and lived to tell the tale. There was nothing worse than having the skin burned and obliterated from your body at the same time, and yet here she stood.

"What is your bet?" Sakura spoke directly to Naruto, urging him with her eyes to look at her, and understand that she was fine. What they had done to her had changed both her body and her mind. It had spurred her into action to better herself.

"You win and you can leave peacefully. We will wipe all of your records clean and you'll be free to go. We win, and Sakura has to stay."

"That's going to have to be negotiated."

"There will be no fucking negotiation." Sasuke growled, his calm mask slipping, his posture turning aggressive. A muscle pulsed at his temple and his sharp jaw clenched. He had gone from the cute boy I once knew to a sexy tall glass of water, and as Sakura had mentioned earlier, it was hot and she was thirsty. She couldn't stop from licking her lips and Sasuke caught the movement, tracking the flash of silver on her tongue.

"Leaving peacefully isn't exactly an option if we kill you." Zabuza replied nonchalantly.

Sakura's heart dropped.

Fuck.

Shit.

Shitfuck.

Naruto looked to me in betrayal.

"You would kill us?"

Sakura didn't know what to do. Zabuza had helped her so much, she would be who she was today without him and Haku both, and Sakura know that wherever Zabuza goes Haku is close behind. If Zabuza wanted a fight to the death, Haku would make sure he got it. That's just the type of guy he is. He would do anything for Zabuza. Sakura, however, was not that dedicated. She loved those boys- those men. She always would, and killing them would be impossible. Like trying to bite off a finger, these men were a part of her. Her cowardice she could lose, but her love for them would never die.

"Of course she would. I made her into a killer," Zabuza slapped a heavy hand against my back, but I was grounded, stuck solid to the ground, and my body didn't budge an inch.

"Then what do you want?" Kakashi spoke up. His gaze was just as lazy as they had always been.

Sakura was under the impression that they didn't want anything other than the knowledge that they could beat Sakura's old team, so when he replied, "We want to be accepted here." She was floored. Sakura had believed that after that they would continue to wander through the valleys and continue as mercenaries.

"We want citizenship here, to stay and be a part of Konoha. We wish to join your ranks as ANBU."

A gasp echoed through the crowd in the stands.

Tsunade appeared in-between both teams, right in front of Zabuza.

"That's between me and you." Her amber eyes were melting with anger, her sharply arched eyebrows were scrunched in the middle.

"Do you accept the deal?" Zabuza questioned, speaking to her without attitude. He was sincere, and Sakura felt betrayed. Zabuza was planning something. She could read him like the back of her hand, and he was scared of something, and Konoha was where he felt like he could get help. She knew that there was a war brewing between Orochimaru and Konoha but that had nothing to do with them, did it?

Tsunade stared into his eyes, and then she looked into Sakura's. She tried to look less confused. She stared into the ageless features of the woman she had looked at like a mother. Tsunade's eyes filled with tears, and Sakura's only widened marginally. When Tsunade snatched Sakura up in a ferocious hug, Sakura was at a loss as to how to keep her own tears at bay. She let her face solidify, locking her features down when the tears went overboard, slowly slipping past her cheek, down her chin, and plopping onto her shirt.

It was over quickly, and Sakura bit the bullet and evaporated the tears, stepping out of Tsunade's embrace.

Tsunade stared at her a moment longer before declaring, "I accept." She nodded at us in agreement, then turned to Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke.

"Bring her home boys."

Everyone took their stance and the rematch began.


End file.
